Shibu Soren resigns, Jharkhand in political mess

Jharkhand was left in a political mess once more after Shibu Soren finally resigned on Sunday evening, paving way for a possible President’s rule in Jharkhand. He was supposed to prove his majority on Monday in the Assembly.

For more than a month, power-tussle has been going on between Shibu Soren and the BJP. Shibu ditched BJP’s trust and voted for the Congress in New Delhi. Repercussions were immediately felt in Jharkhand as BJP withdrew its support to state Govt. And that was when the whole drama started.

Shibu Soren’s son came out with his version that his father voted in favour of the Congress by mistake and that JMM was ready to hand over the Govt’s control to the BJP. That got BJP to withdraw support immediately. Soon, a seat sharing arrangement started doing the rounds, by which BJP and JMM were to share the Govt leadership for equal durations of time. Exactly when it loked the drama is over, Shibu Soren said the climax has a twist. He declined of any seat sharing talks with the BJP and said he was looking forward to form a Govt with Congress.

BJP, meanwhile, grew bore of this saga and decided to finally quit the Govt. Shibu Soren was left with a minority in Jharkhand Assembly. His overtures to the Congress yielded no results because Congress knows it anyways is the biggest gainer from this fiasco. They would never want to jeopardize their chances of getting a clear majority in Jharkhand in next elections. So, they simply stayed away.

To save face, Shibu Soren had to finally submit his resignation on Sunday morning. Deputy Chief Minister Sudesh Mahto while submitting the resignation gave the lamest of excuses stating that they appealed to all parties to help JMM in the interest of the state and to prevent President’s rule. He just forgot that if JMM was really after state’s interest, this situation would have never occurred.

The future of Jharkhand remains very uncertain for now. It is highly unlikely that Congress will come forward to support JMM, leaving the way clear for a President’s rule yet again in Jharkhand. If President’s rule is imposed, one can expect Jharkhand to go to Assembly Polls with Bihar in Nov-Dec 2010.

One just hopes that if Jharkhand goes to polls again this year, the people of the state will finally rise above caste and religion and vote for the well being of the State. They need to give a clear mandate to one political party instead of throwing divided mandates, which gives an opportunity for power-lovers like JMM to bargain for their own good.